That’s the general opinion. And to be quite honest, after being tossed around in a giant washing machine for two hours, even if he did fix my broken leg, it’s my opinion as well.

But try to look at this from another perspective. Discord isn’t stupid. If he realized when he was released that failure to abide by mortal rules would result in the reinstatement of his previous punishment, do you really think he would have done what he did? He thought he was invincible!

And exactly what did he do? At its most base level, were his actions any different than Trixie’s or Gilda’s? Or what any given bully does? Do they deserve to be imprisoned in a chunk of rock for over a thousand years?

The only thing that made him a threat worthy of such a punishment were his powers, not his actions. If you actually think about it for more than a few seconds, you might just pity him. He’s just a childish creature with too much power to grow up.

I… What?

I’ve got a few questions like this before and I never know what to do with them. This isn’t some D&D tabletop campaign. This is my life. This is, more or less, how I really act in the world I really live in.

I’m roommates with Bon-Bon; we live in her home. Tootsie, her niece, stays with us Sunday night through Friday morning and lives with her parents on the weekends. Sweetie Belle moved in some time ago, with her parent’s permission of course. My boyfriend is a chemical glue-making bear named Krastos. I call him Boscov.

I spent a lot of my time growing up in the darker side of Canterlot. I had to do a lot of things I’m not proud of to survive. Things are better there than they used to be.

Celestia raises the sun to the east and sets it to the west. Birds fly, fish swim. I don’t know what else to tell you.

This isn’t fantasy. I live in the real world. Sometimes things might seem darker than they should be, but my experiences have left me a little jaded about life. I don’t necessarily take things at face value like everypony else does.

…

…

Meta powers says “It’s realistically gray,” whatever that’s supposed to mean.

However wrong his actions, Discord has no way of atoning for them while caged in rock. And he’s still conscious in there. Can you imagine how horrifying that existence must be?

Princess Celestia has to make some difficult decisions, both in the past and present. You think a utopian society is just built and maintained on sunshine and rainbows?

As for me? Well, if my past actions indicate anything, it’s not my heroism. If anything it’s closer to the opposite direction.

I got segregation out of that.

Not a fan, but sometimes it’s necessary. In public school foals are segregated by species at some point to learn about their specific racial differences.

Unicorn about magic.

Pegasus about flying.

Earth ponies about nature, and advanced physical education.

In college, you can take classes on the other subjects as a humanities credit. Kind of weird if you’re a Unicorn or a Pegasus getting a humanities credit for P.E.

Yes, I’ve had intercourse with Boscov. I don’t really feel like answering that second part.

Most of the time it wasn’t really my decision. It was just part of an agreement that would also involve stealing, all so I wouldn’t be killed or sold into slavery.

Or worse.

Stuck-up whistle-blowers… They were just as hazardous as the vile creatures I had to work for.

Bless their little hearts. And I do mean little.

Have I mentioned that I don’t care for the rich?

Oh… Cels… That wasn’t even a very big deal.

Far from the more terrifying experiences of my life, that was just a school-yard tussle. Some fillies didn’t appreciate my attitude and took it upon themselves to try and “correct” me.

They beat the crud out of me and during the fight I fell on my saddlebag where my lyre was. That was all there was too it.

Of course, they were also the ones I was trying to get revenge on when I accidentally pranked Twilight with Poison Joak. Never got them back after that prank misfired.

Thank you for the gift! I have a carry case for my lyre already, but I’ve never had one with a place for picks too!

It really isn’t. I don’t care what anypony thinks. But the reason I don’t post much about Tootsie isn’t because I don’t love her too. It’s because I’m not really allowed to interact with her. She’s a sweet filly and I wish I could spend more time with her. But Tootsie’s Mom sees me as some kind of drain on society; incapable of getting a real job. Whether that’s true or not, she doesn’t want me messing up Tootsie’s life too.

I just thought maybe, since we were all celebrating together, she’s see that I’m just a normal mare like anypony else. I don’t know which I’m upset about more. The fact that she always referred to Boscov as “Mister Bear” or that she made some comment implying that I’m only dating Boscov because he’s successful. Nevermind that she kept “accidentally” miscounting things and forgetting he was there.

It’s just frustrating…

And whether we get along or not is irrelevant. As long as you’re with Rarity, you’re a part of Sweetie Belle’s family and deserve the same level of respect I give to them.

There is no meaning to life.

There are no consequences for our actions beyond this plane. No reason to care about what happens to our world after we pass, or about the feelings of anyone around us at all.

But that’s what gives us a reason to be kind and considerate ponies. There’s no reason to gain incredible wealth or power when it serves no purpose once we’re gone. All the money in Equestria might give you a few extra years to your name, but that will never compare to decades of friendship and caring that you can give and receive.

We strive to make the world a better place for those that follow for absolutely no reason whatsoever. We’ll never see the fruits of our labors, or the smiles our actions bring. But even in a world where there is no right and wrong, it’s just the right thing to do.

Relatively. That is to say, I went to a regular school like a normal foal.

I didn’t do very well in anything other than math up until high school, though. Didn’t have time to study or do homework half the time.

Not all problems are meant to have a solution.

I guess maybe that’s what I would’ve liked to have known.

No, not me.

In fact, there have been a hundred times where if I’d only had some kind of help, insight, even just another perspective, then maybe…

…

Maybe things would have turned out better for others.

It’s not common for ponies, no.

Typically it’d take a unicorn’s magic to maintain the balance and speed necessary to match a Griffon. But if it’s a unicorn fighting, usually they’d be throwing around magic spells at a distance. Plus, unicorns aren’t exactly renounced for their physical prowess. Takes yet another spell to give them the kind of strength to stand up against what an earth or pegusus pony would be capable of. Which means being effective in two specific fields of magic.

Pegesus can box effectively, but typically their style of combat involves a lot of dives and grabs to throw their opponent off balance.

I can’t think of any stories that wouldn’t take, like, an hour to write, or aren’t depressing in at least some capacity. I can think of one, but I wasn’t even involved when it supposedly got good.

There was this couple that was playing truth or dare with us once. They were kinda bending the rules and giving one another easy stuff to do, but everypony else was giving them really hard ones and they were doing them. They were both in the lead when out of the blue, the colt dares the filly to climb on top of a statue while Princess Celestia is marching down the street and present herself.

By the time the resulting poo-storm between the two subsided, double diamond dog dare. Filly is a pegasus, so she gets up to the top first. We saw what was coming and bolted, the coltfriend too! She won, but she got very, very arrested.

But, that isn’t even the story. The story is that the coltfriend wanted us to help break her out! After he ran off too?! But… That filly had a lot of guts.

We agreed, but there wasn’t a whole lot I could do. I couldn’t fly and I still wasn’t very good with magic, not that I am now. I drew them up some rough floor plans and left.

They got her out, but they never told me how. No idea what they were hiding, but I’d have loved to be a fly on the wall there.

See? This is an interesting question!

I’ve sort of been waiting to get something like this to be honest, though. Ever since that ponycast from Equestria Daily where the hosts talked about the possibilities behind a background character with the same name as me being a villain. You know the show I’m talking about, right? That breakout hit show for foals?

Let’s look at some information about me and the world around us.

I’ve trained pretty hard, but I’m far from an action girl. I’m more of a one-trick pony. I sort of have super strength, in a way, but it’s either limited in potency or duration. I could probably keep up Applejack levels of strength for about thirty minutes, or give one fully-sized, Basil-strength punch and be completely spent. Not exactly the kind of position a physical villain wants to find themselves in.

If I were a villain, I’d have to be a villain of subtly. Manipulate ponies and events for my own personal gain. And in that… Well… I think I could be fairly devastating. I mean, how many ponies actually dislike me? Supposing it was all a trick to gain a following large enough, and with enough sympathy toward me to direct them at others, would anypony actually see it coming?

But…

Unless you’re a psychopath, a villain has to have some greater goal in mind; something to gain. Some reason to deviate so far from society as to fall from grace, possibly to the point of irredeemability. What would I have to gain from being a villain?

No matter how much of a following I gather, I would never be able overthrow Princess Celestia, let alone both her and her sister (and all other forces involved). And I wouldn’t want to! I owe my life to her, and she does a great job running the country (the real Princess, that is)!

But… Assuming I did. Running a country isn’t all about power and satisfaction. It’s just about the most detailed and involving job there is. Princess Celestia reads almost all day everyday. And there’s always more piling up. Sorry, no desire for any of that kind of responsibility.

I’m not normal. I just don’t want anypony to suffer. The way I have and the way I’ve seen others suffer. But either way I’d never be a villain, or even do anything antihero-ish because I’d have nothing to gain from it.

As an aside (if we want to go the television show/comic book route), being that Basil is the only one that I’ve ever seen resist me so completely, he’d actually be my villain. Which would make him a hero. How hilarious would that be?